Tag Archives: Italian

We’re not gonna lie, we totally ripped this idea off from a spread we saw while shopping in Fairway. Our version, however, isn’t $14 for 8 ounces, so there. This blend is great by itself on bread but can be used for pizzas, on pasta, as a sauce for poultry, you name it. For a sharper bite use the garlic raw instead of roasting it.

Peel as much of the loose outer papery skin odd the garlic bulbs as you can without actually peeling them. Cut the tops off of the cloves and tear off a piece of foil large enough to enclose both bulbs.

Place the foil in the baking sheet and set down your garlic bulbs, cut side up. Drizzle about two tablespoons of olive oil over the top and sprinkle some salt and pepper on each as well. Wrap them up and pop them in the oven for 35 minutes.

Lube your bulbs.

While your garlic is roasting drain the artichokes and quarter them. Put them in the blender or food processor, add a palmful of salt and pepper, and grate in a quarter cup of Parmigiano cheese. Squeeze in the juice of half a lime, pour in two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and blend everything together until it’s smooth.

The acidity of the lemon helps balance things out.

When your garlic has roasted let it cool for a couple of minutes and then squeeze the cloves out of their peels and into your artichoke puree. Blend until everything is incorporated and add more cheese, salt, pepper or lemon to taste. Spread on your vessel of choice and buon appetito!

Living in New York we’ve come to realize that pizza allegiances border on religious zealotry to which we say, why restrict yourself when it comes to pie? Thanks to Jake’s friend Sandy’s suggestion we tried making a deep dish pizza in a cast iron skillet and, to no one’s surprise, the woman was right. It’s almost too easy, which is to say, why aren’t you making one right now?

1 pre-made ball of pizza dough (we used a garlic herb dough that suited us just fine)(about $1.99/package)

1 lb Italian sausage ($3.99/lb)

1 small bunch of broccoli ($2.99/bunch)

1 small onion ($0.99/lb)

1 small red bell pepper ($2.99/lb)

1 lb fresh mozzarella ($7.99/lb)

3 cloves garlic ($2.99/lb)

2 TBSP fresh rosemary ($1.50/bunch)

1 – 28 oz cans of crushed tomatoes ($2.19/each)

1/3 C shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese ($12.99/lb)

extra virgin olive oil ($9.99/32 oz)

Salt

Pepper

Preparation:

Preheat your oven to 400° F.

Mince your garlic cloves and rosemary together to get them as fine as possible.

Put a frying pan over medium heat and add a little olive oil to the bottom to help keep things moving. Remove the sausages from their casings, throw them in the pan and break them up with your spoon. Toss in the garlic and rosemary and cook until lightly browned (about 5-8 minutes).

Be careful not to overcook the sausage, it's still going in the oven once you're done here.

While the sausage is cooking away, pour about 2 tablespoons of olive oil into your cast iron skillet. Rub the oil around the pan so the sides and bottom are evenly coated. Proceed to spread the pizza dough across the bottom and up to the top of the skillet’s rim. Remember, this is a deep dish so you want to make a crust that can support the mountain of toppings you’re about to add.

You're gonna need to work the dough a bit to get it to stay up along the sides.

Cut your mozzarella into 1/8th inch – 1/4 inch slices and line the bottom of the crust. That’s right, traditional Chicago deep dish puts the cheese on first. Here’s a towel to wipe up your mind that just got blown all over.

We highly recommend splurging on the freshest mozzarella you can find for this one; it's a noticeable difference.

Slice up your onion and pepper into thin strips and cut your broccoli into small florets. Spread these veggies evenly over the top of the cheese.

Open the can of tomatoes and pour them into a large mixing bowl. Add a pinch of salt and pepper, and some crushed red pepper if you want to give it a little kick. When the sausage is done pour it in with the tomatoes and stir everything together. Spoon it into the pie to cover everything and make sure to distribute the sauce evenly for uniform cooking.

Spread the sauce evenly and fill every space not occupied by cheese or veggies.

Pop that monster into the oven for about 20 minutes. You’ll have to check in on your pizza around 18 minutes and every couple of minutes after that to make sure things are cooking evenly. The crust should be crispy and the sauce should be bubbling when it’s done. Grate on some Parmigiano to finish things off and let it rest for about 10 minutes to allow the toppings to set up a bit for easier serving and eating; the skillet will keep it warm.

Not sure if you noticed lately but it’s pretty f**king hot out. This meteorological fact combined with our recent penchant for pre-made pizza dough has forced us to make quick and easy dinners. Take your taste buds to the Italian countryside (as we imagine it) with this no-brainer “flatbread”. To keep things simple we opted for artichoke spread as the sauce and some fresh mixed greens from our CSA to make us feel better about eating half a pizza each.

This remastered lasagna recipe was inspired by the amazingly ridiculous roast pork sandwich at DiNic’s in the Reading Terminal Market in Philly. Broccoli rabe provides a pleasant bitter contrast to the spicy sausage and sharp provolone that take this from potluck standby to punch-yourself-in-the-face addictive. Purists will scoff but you will smile as you dig in for seconds.

Start things off by mincing your garlic cloves and doing a fine dice on your onions.

Eat this with people you don't mind being close to.

Put the pot over low heat and coat the bottom with olive oil. After it’s warmed up for a couple minutes toss in half of your garlic and half of your onions. Throw in a palmful of salt and pepper and cook the veggies down.

After the aromatics have cooked for about 5 minutes pour in the tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, red wine, Italian seasoning and a pinch of salt and pepper. Mix everything well and keep the sauce over low heat until you’re ready to assemble the lasagna. Make sure you stir it occasionally so the sauce doesn’t stick to the bottom.

A little red wine adds some depth to your sauce.

While the marinara is simmering wash your broccoli rabe and chop it into 1 inch pieces. Put your frying pan over medium heat and coat the bottom of it with olive oil. Toss in the rest of the onions and garlic and cook them down the same way you did for the sauce minus the salt and pepper.

When the veggies have cooked down, add the broccoli rabe to the pan and give it a good dose of salt and pepper. Cook everything down until it’s thoroughly wilted; about 5-8 minutes (cover the pan to make things go faster).

Add the salt to the broccoli rabe to help draw some of the moisture out.

While your greens are cooking preheat the oven to 375°F then grate your provolone and set it aside.

Remove the casings from your sausage links and chop up the meat. When the broccoli rabe is properly wilted transfer it to your mixing bowl and put the sausage in the frying pan over medium heat. Cook it until it’s browned, about 5-8 minutes, making sure to keep it broken up with your spoon. Drain the excess fat and toss the sausage in the mixing bowl with the veggies.

There's just something naughty-looking about this picture.

Taste your marinara sauce and adjust the salt, pepper and Italian seasoning to your liking. When you’re satisfied take it off the stove and stir it in with your meat and veg. Spoon a layer of the mixture into your baking pan and add a single layer of lasagna noodles on top to cover it.

Proceed to spoon in more sauce to cover the noodles. Take your ricotta cheese and layer globs on so they’re relatively evenly spaced. Sprinkle a small bit of the provolone on top and cover with another layer of noodles. Repeat the process until you reach the top of the pan.

Save yourself the frustration and just spread the ricotta with your hands. Unlike your mother we encourage playing with your food.

For the last layer, spoon sauce on the noodles but no ricotta. Take the majority of your provolone and cover the sauce with a vengeance. Gently cover the pan with aluminum foil, tenting it a bit so it’s not in direct contact with the cheese.

Pop the lasagna in the oven for 35 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for another 15 or so until the cheese is bubbly and nicely browned. Remove it from the oven and let it sit for at least 10 minutes before serving so the layers have a chance to settle and your lasagna doesn’t slide apart as soon as it hits your plate. Buon appetito!

Man cannot live on bread alone, but it might be worth a try with this stuff.

If you’ve been wasting your money on frozen pre-made garlic bread we implore you to stop. This is one of the easiest side dishes in the world to make and doing it yourself means there’s no ingredients you need a degree in molecular chemistry to understand. Oh, and did we mention truffle oil? Automatic badass points for you and an extra dose of delicious for your culinary companions.

1-2 TBSP white truffle oil ($12/3.4 oz) (Note: If you don’t have truffle oil you can just use olive oil but we suggest treating yourself at some point and picking up a bottle)

1 C Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese ($12.99/lb)

Pepper

﻿﻿Preparation:

﻿Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Lay out an aluminum foil sheet of about six inches square. Cut the ends off the garlic cloves but keep the skin on. Drizzle the truffle oil over the top and fold the foil up into a pouch. Place it on the baking sheet and pop it in the heat box for about 10 minutes.

While the garlic is roasting cut the loaf of bread into 4-5 equal pieces then cut each piece horizontally down the center. Butter each piece and put them on the baking sheet with the garlic. Put everything back in the oven for another 5 minutes.

We like to cut it down the center so there's plenty of surface area for cheese, scooping and dipping.

Remove the baking sheet and carefully open up the foil pouch. Peel the garlic and spread it across each piece of bread. Take the leftover truffle oil and drizzle it over the pieces too. Top everything off with the grated Parmigiano (we used pre-grated for convenience on this one) and put it back in the oven for another 3-5 minutes until the cheese melts. Serve warm.

The garlic should be roasted to the point where you can spread it like a paste.

For those of you keeping score at home we try to use fresh, local ingredients whenever possible and winter is no exception. With a generous gift of tasty beets from our friend Nette’s CSA we decided to recreate a pasta favorite of ours. Inspired by a dish at Locale, a great Italian joint in Astoria, this gorgonzola and beet bonanza is the definition of “not light fare,” but what it lacks in subtlety is braggadociously made up for by it’s sweet/earthy/tangy flavor.

Before you start any cooking, dice your onion, mince your garlic, mince your walnuts and peel and shred your beet; this will save you time later.

Don't wear white while you're doing this; beet juice will find a way to get on everything.

Fill one of your pots about 3/4 full of water and put it over medium heat. Bring it to a boil and throw in about a palmful of salt. Add the pasta and a splash of olive oil, stirring occasionally to prevent clumping. Cook for about 5-8 minutes until it’s soft but still has a little bite to it (a.k.a. al dente).

While the pasta is cooking put the frying pan over medium heat and throw in 1 tablespoon of butter. Add the onions and garlic with a healthy dash of salt and pepper and cook them down for about 5 minutes. Once they’ve softened add the honey, balsamic vinegar and brown sugar. Stir everything up so it’s mixed well and drop the heat on your burner to low. Stir occasionally and let those puppies caramelize while you continue to prepare everything else.

Caramelized onions are the little black dress of flavor; a versatile addition for almost any occasion.

When your pasta is cooked drain it. At this point you should either grab another pot or just set your pasta aside for a few minutes while you reuse the pasta pot.

Put your pot back over medium heat and put in the other 2 tablespoons of butter. Once it’s melted, add about 1/4C of flour and stir thoroughly to start your roux (the thickening base for many sauces). Cook this until it’s a golden brown and stir in the milk.

At this point stir in the gorgonzola until it’s melted then add your beets to the mix. Mix together and toss the pasta back in the pot. Stir to coat everything evenly, add the caramelized onions and walnuts, stirring again to distribute. Serve with good bread and/or a light salad.